Political mudfight is just beginning

January 27, 2012

Newt Gingrich lied.

He could not produce anyone to refute his second wife, who claimed that the Republican presidential candidate asked for an "open marriage" as he had an adulterous relationship with a staffer who would become wife No. 3.

Gingrich portrayed moderator John King of CNN as a heel, and the audience in South Carolina roared with approval.

But a week later the circus has left town. The CNN analyst just confirmed from the candidate's staff that Gingrich was wrong. King's redeemed, right?

Will anyone notice or care?

Last week's case study in media manipulation was proof that Gingrich is channeling Ronald Reagan; he wears him like an overcoat.

During the 1980s presidential debates, critics accused Reagan of telling public policy whoppers. When the details were fact-checked by the press corps in that pre-Internet era, Reagan's handlers said the half-truths did not matter: Thousands of influential readers of the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal did not have the clout of millions of viewers — and voters — who were wowed by the "great communicator."

A quarter century later, an expanded fishbowl and split-second social media communication — exponentially faster than 24/7 news cycles — has not stopped politicians from manipulating details or simply functioning as honest gaffe machines.

•Team Obama does manipulation, too. They complained that there was no rancor inside the White House, example the first lady having testy exchanges with the former chief of staff. When journalist/author Jodi Kantor appeared on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show," he "scolded" her for writing a book that was "fact-checked," she said, and was not shrill, observed the comic, unlike the buzz on talk shows and the blogosphere: "You disappoint me," Stewart told Kantor with a smirk.

•Democrats hurl ethnic insults, too. I wondered where Vice President Joe Biden was hiding. Now I know. The administration just let him out to play and he just told a tacky joke about Asian Indian call center workers. Oops.

But Biden's gaffe was blown away by the GOP Latino explosion on or about Wednesday: When asked about alleged police misconduct toward Latino residents, the East Haven, Conn. mayor promised to serve his Hispanic constituents tacos;

•Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer was pictured wagging her finger menacingly at the President Obama. Her beef was about immigration and border security. Brewer then had the chutzpah to go on camera and say that the verbal confrontation with the POTUS was "cordial." If you say so governor;

•And Newt Gingrich again: While campaigning in Florida he said Spanish spoken in America was a "ghetto language," a statement so outrageous, Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator from Florida, who is of Cuban heritage, had to call Gingrich out and press him to can the insults.

We have months ahead of human frailty that should inevitably lead to gaffes —and calculated media manipulation by politicians.

Are news consumers ready to be discerning despite media tsunamis that will overwhelm, misdirect and confuse?

Buyers beware.

Dawkins is an assistant professor at Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications and a contributing writer with politicsincolor.com